Why India lost the semifinal.

THE REASONS WHY INDIA LOST THE SEMIFINAL

Cricket, in the country of India, is a matter of national debate. People are so crazy about cricket that they would rather watch a cricket match than work at the office or for younger audiences, attend classes. India was certainly a force to reckon with in this year's ICC World T20 Cup. They were the hosts of the tournament and clear favorites while the tournament was progressing. With the likes of Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin playing with their 'form of a lifetime', it was quite diifcult to beat them on paper. But the West Indies team is built for T20 cricket and they defeated India with quite a lot of ease. So what went wrong? Here are the reasons why India lost the World T20 semifinal.

1) The Toss

The toss is a crucial factor to win matches. In the the match the overall 'lucky' M S Dhoni fell to the Law of Averages and thus lost the toss. The West Indies chose to field and even though we made a solid score it wasn't enough.

2) Team Selection

According to me the selection of Ajinkya Rahane was a fabulous idea to ensure a solid opening partnership. However I don't think that selecting Manish Pandey was justified. Dhoni should have chosen Harbhajan Singh due to the fact that he knows the Wankhede pitch as much as he knows how to bowl. Also, Bhajji has always turned out to be a genuine match winner both with the ball as well as the bat. With his experience, it might have been possible to restrict the WI batsman Lendl Simmons who share the dressing room at Mumbai Indians.

3) The 2 No-balls

It was really surprising that the same batsman could have been out 2 times but each time it was a no-ball. Hardik Pandya is a player who has not played much in the domestic circuit so his no-ball may have been due to lack of skill. However according to me, the no-ball that Ashwin bowled was sheer 'Bad Luck'. I mean ask this question to yourself, " When was the last time you saw a spinner bowl a no-ball?" Before this I did not even know that a spinner could bowl a no-ball. These two balls eventually cost them the whole match.

4) Line and Length

The WI batsman as strong as they are cal easily hit a short ball as they can hit the good length one. The Indian bowlers however bowled the good length and the short ball consistently. Barring Bumrah, nobody could bowl a good quality yorker. Nehra tried to bowl yorkers but most of them turned into low fulltosses and were whacked into the stands. 

5) Lack of innovation

If this was some other captain, lack of innovation would not have even appeared on this list. But you know that a guy who can ask a less known baller (Joginder Sharma) to bowl the ultimate over to write history, you start having more expectations from him. While the idea of giving Virat the ball was brilliant, he could have done better( e.g. giving Ashwin the first over so as to dismiss the WI openers who cannot play spin with soft hands). 

6) Dew factor

Dew affects the bowling team majorly. A wet ball is harder to grip, thereby putting bowlers to a disadvantage. This is most notable in finger-spin bowlers who depend on gripping the ball to get the required amount of turn. Additionally, due to lack of grip, it is harder for the bowlers to maintain the desired line and length as compared to a non-dew environment. It was clearly visible as Ashwin was constantly rubbing the towel on the ball. The spinners got hit for 68 runs in the 6 overs they bowled.

7) Recreating Sachin's Magic

In the Hero Cup semi, With 6 needed off the last over, skipper Azharuddin took a gamble and handed the ball to young Sachin, who hadn't bowled a single over in the match till then. Tendulkar bowled an ice-cool over under tremendous pressure, in front of a packed Eden Gardens crowd and took India to a dramatic win. Dhoni probably wanted to recreate the same magic but Kohli just could not do it form him. This will leave a forever haunting question of what if Ashwin had bowled the last over.

In the end the West Indies won the match and while I particularly was supporting India, I loved the way Lendl Simmons and Kohli batted with the straight bat which showed the world that players with just sound batting technique could be wonderful T20  batsmen.

P.S.:- I know my blogs are deviating from the topic, I am looking forward to change the title as soon as possible and will let you know immediately. BYE!!!